SAME PLANET, DIFFERENT WORLD
A COSTA RICA STORY

by Stuart Abrams

My wife and I have had a love affair with road trips that dates back 15 years to the summer of our marriage when we toured across Canada and the U.S. from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean, with many side trips and detours all along our meandering route. Many years and many cars have passed since then and we now consider the old saying of "getting there is half the fun" as a point of logic, so it was an easy sell when we came across an un-guided 4X4 tour package of Costa Rica as a destination for our upcoming vacation.
Initially thrilled with the idea of peaceful cruising through tropical forests and beautiful ocean sunset vistas we scurried down to the travel agent and plunked down our deposit. The agent was quite impressed that we had chosen that package and immediately offered some reference web-sites, books and an upgraded insurance package. It was the last point that caught my attention. The agent emitted a nervous giggle and quickly put the cash in the drawer.

With an air of trepidation overhanging my initial glee, I began looking at the references the agent had suggested, such as; therealcostarica.com, The New Key to Costa Rica, a Costa Rican driving tips brochure by the AAA, and ultimately some videos on youtube.com
The reading was intense; some parts filled me with a sense of adventure and some with a sense of dread. I found, Costa Rica is a very liberal country with social programs and ideals very similar to our own, public medical care, universities and financial assistance for the elderly and disabled. They boast to the world that they have no standing army and the focus of their government is peace, saving the planet and the pursuit of "Pura-Vida" or pure life, a concept that is esoterically self explanatory and elemental in all facets of day to day life, but in the interest of the populations general air of peaceful bliss they have gone a few steps farther than we in the conservative North would have. Prostitution is legal there, on the same par as Amsterdam, there are brothels and agencies and streetwalkers, minimal quantities of wacky weed are not a criminal offence, gambling and casinos are everywhere and anti-smoking laws simply don't exist. Pura-Vida! Little of this concerned me as I am not much of a gambler, I gave up pot in high school and I've been faithfully paying for sex (in one way or another) to the same person for the last 15 years. The smoking thing was fun though, the idea of puffing away on a Cuban after dinner with bitter American tourists squinting at me made me chuckle. All of this to say that laws in general were a bit more lax than we endure here and the direct impact of that on my vacation was to be demonstrated in their attitudes and laws governing the roads.

Our roving reporter and his 4X4

First things first. Drinking and driving is legal there, though causing an accident while you are intoxicated will land you a few months in the clink. Prudence. Pura-vida. Street signs, house numbers or any other sort of posting on a pole we are accustomed to are rare and far between, speed and parking signs included. All is done by judgement calls and estimation. The next town? About an hour-that way. Can you park here? Why not? What is your address? About 200 m from the blue depanneur by the dead oak tree in front of the newspaper box. All of that stuff is pretty ambiguous and for that we added a GPS unit to the car rental. I strongly recommend this course to anyone who doesn't want to wind up to the rocker panels in mud on some back-road in the rainforest at sunset. Which leads me to my next point.

Any and all publications will tell you, DON'T DRIVE AT NIGHT! This is good advice, take it. The driving in San Jose is hectic with honk and go red lights, no marked lanes, no speed limits and generally no respect for any indications, such as "one way" or "pedestrian crossing", this is bad enough but once you get into the country all of these non-rules apply except you are doing it on really, really poorly maintained highways. The best of the highways is the Intercontinental or No 1, this is the main artery of Costa Rica and it very much reminded me of the 132 from Matane to Gaspe with potholes the size of sea turtles. Any and all traffic passes on the No. 1, 18 wheelers, tractors, horses, cattle - everything, so it's best to expect the unexpected. Leaving the No.1 for one of the state highways takes you to narrow twisty roads that will take you on a tour of Costa Rica's 4 distinct eco-systems that make Le Ronde look dull.

Many times in the last few years, I wondered what practical purpose an SUV had on this earth, now I understand. If there had to be an official vehicle of Costa Rica it would be the SUV. There are every sort you can imagine there. The tourists, like me, with Santa Fe's, Daihatsu Begos, RAV4's, Mitsubishis and Suzuki's. The upper echelons had Merc G classes, Defenders with full snorkel gear, really bouncy Land Cruisers and even a few Hummers (which is just dumb since all the roads are sooo narrow). There are the classics, old Broncos (60's and 70's) old Rovers and Land Cruisers and a large amount of Jeeps, from 1940s Willy's to CJs and TJs with all sorts of off road options. It all made sense once we got into the back roads and trails. The views were absolutely breathtaking going up to the highlands, these folks build the highways across the ridgeline rather than in the valleys (due to the rainy season) so you will find long stretches of road with a thousand or so foot drop on either side! Twisty switch-backs up, twisty switch-backs allll the way down! Fun! I would have sadly missed my BMW 635 if it weren't for the gaping pot-holes and the tendency to go from asphalt to gravel to dirt to asphalt all the time. Pura-Vida! The 4X4 made the difference.

Leaving the mountains and going through the rain forest was another heart-stopping display of beauty. Jungle canopied roads twisting though the forest, amazing! There really are no words for the beauty, but again the roads really require a lot of attention. All the bridges are one lane deals with no railings so you really need to observe the right of way at crossings or you are in for a long drop. The pot-holes here are augmented by areas of road that have been washed away in the last rainy season and large blown down trees that are roughly hacked away with chain-saws usually still protruding into the lane. Here the concerned citizens have developed a system of warning. Remember this word: PELLIGRO! It means DANGER! And if you see it scrawled on the road in messy spray-paint, slow down! something really messed up is probably around the next bend. The other trusted method to watch out for is the "old tree branch with a plastic shopping bag tied to it stuck in the ground beside the road" trick, also a very good idea to slow down if you see one (perhaps this method is employed by people without the resources to get a can of spray-paint?) all in all its best to stay on your toes and enjoy the scenery.

"old tree branch with a plastic shopping bag tied to it stuck in the ground beside the road" trick, also a very good idea to slow down if you see one

The prairies and coastal roads are of a much flatter variety but the same defences still apply. It is truly remarkable how much the scenery changes in this tiny country, the sights and smells and sounds of the trip will remain with me for the rest of my life. But I have taken a lesson away from there too; its not me driving 160 km/h through a red light with 4 prostitutes and a martini on my way to the casino to get some pot I have to worry about in Costa Rica, it's the other guy! Pura-Vida!

©VEA